A KiAki Christmas
by Sango Tsubasa
Summary: Told in first person by Kiryu. Kiryu wants to give a Christmas present to Aki, but he's too nervous! However, Yusei helps him out... Kiryu x Aki Rated T for mild language.


**A KiAki Christmas**

I stood behind a building, waiting, watching the cross walk from afar and with anticipation. I had a small gift tucked under my arm. I knew _she_ crossed this crosswalk every day, when she walked home from Duel Academy, sometimes with the twins, sometimes not. I felt my heartbeat quicken. If the twins weren't with her… I could give this to her…

I brushed back my lengthy light blue hair with nervousness. Any second now… I gulped. _Okay Kiryu, you can do this…_ I told myself, _You have to. It's the last day before Duel Academy break… this is your last chance…_ I absentmindedly fingered my scarf. The minutes seemed to drag by slower and slower. I checked my watch. Yep. Any minute now…

And there she was, walking down to the cross walk, her school bag in her hand. Aki. My heart beat became more rapid. There she was in all her beauty, her dark magenta hair shimmering and her metal hair piece glowing from the sunlight. I loved everything about her. I loved her hair, her eyes, her smile, her light pink scarf, her dark pink jacket with too long sleeves that almost completely covered her hands, her black skirt, her black over the knee socks, and her dark pink shoes. But what I _really_ loved about her was her personality. She was everything mixed into one girl. She had a quick temper, an I-don't-take-shit-from-no-one attitude, but she was also kind and caring, and gentle. She was everything. She was amazing.

I sighed. _It's now or never…_ But my legs wouldn't move. I was too nervous. What if she thought it was awkward? What if she walked away and laughed? What if she didn't like it? I had spent so much time and effort looking for a gift for her, trying to find the perfect thing… And finally, I had found it. It was a pair of black arm warmers, the fingers cut off. On them, there were green thorn vines leading to the head of a red rose at the top. It was totally her style. But… what if she had them already? What if she got weirded out that I was giving her a gift? We didn't _really_ know each other that well… But… it was enough to make me fall for her. She was everything I wanted in a girl and more.

I watched her as she crossed the street. It was now or never. But I couldn't move. Fear had wrapped itself around me, preventing me from moving. I watched her until she was out of sight. I had missed my chance. I made a noise of frustration and slammed my back into the wall of the building, slumping to the ground. Why, why, why?! Why was I such a wimp when it came to these things?! Ugh. I was hopeless. I'd never be able to give Aki her Christmas present now. I bent my head and sighed.

***

I opened the door to the basement of a building to find Yusei working on his engine project. Jack and Crow weren't there, and neither was Bruno. Yusei looked up. "So, did you do it?" he asked with a smile. His smile quickly faded upon seeing my expression. "No…" I said miserably, "I chickened out…" I sighed and set the gift down on a table and sank into a chair. Yusei frowned at me. "I'll be right back," he said, and left the room. I eyed the door he had just gone through with curiosity. About ten minutes later, he returned, dangling his cell phone from its cell phone charm of a crab and grinning widely at me. "Guess who's coming over for Christmas Eve dinner~!" he sang. My heart froze. "W-WHAT?!" I jumped up, knowing what he had done. "YUSEI! HOW COULD YOU-!" "Relax Kiryu, sheesh! Don't get so worked up!" he said to me, still beaming, "I didn't _just_ invite Aki. Carly and the twins are coming too, along with Jack, Crow, and Bruno of course. But you'll have another chance to give Aki your gift!" I was speechless. I wanted to hug and punch him in the face at the same time. I was happy and scared. There was no__turning back from this. Now, it was just a matter of waiting.

Time flies by when you're anxiously waiting for something you're afraid of doing. Before I knew it, it was Christmas Eve. As promised, everyone was over for dinner. There was a big, long table set out. Yusei, Jack, Crow, Bruno, and I all helped cook dinner, though we quickly banned Jack from the kitchen. He was too proud to follow orders, and he and Crow quickly began to fight. Thus, he was sent out.

Once everything was ready, we began to bring the food out to the table. My heart thumped as I saw that Aki had arrived, along with everyone else. She was happily chatting with Carly, who was sitting across from her, next to a pouting Jack who was obviously still mad about the fuss in the kitchen.

After all the food was placed on the table, I began to debate where to sit. I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder as I was practically shoved into the chair next to Aki. "Right there's fine," I heard Yusei say as he sat on my other side. I could have killed him. I forced my nerves to calm down. I just had to survive a few more hours and this would all be over. Aki would have her gift, and I could rest peacefully, and not have nightmares about Aki getting mad and feeding me to Black Rose Dragon. God, I loved that woman.

"Kiryu?"

My heart froze. Aki was talking to me. I turned to her, forcing myself to stay calm and act normal. "Yes, Aki?" I replied. She held up two monster cards. "Which one do you think would go better in my deck?" she asked me. I looked at them. One was level two, and the other was level three. They were both plant type, but the lever three monster wasn't a plant. It was a girl. And she looked kind of like Aki. I pointed to it, without thinking about what I was doing. "I like that one," I said, "She looks like you." I instantly regretted what I said. What if she took offense to that? Aki had a quick temper, and wouldn't think twice about sicking Rose Tentacles on me and turning dinner into a thorny war zone. But she smiled. "You think so?" she said, looking at the card. "I like that one too." She then busied herself with going through her deck.

"DINNER IS SERVED~!" Crow announced happily. The room rang with "Ikatekimasu!" The food was great! Every so often, Yusei would nudge me and shift his eyes to Aki, a smug smile on his face. I elbowed him back. I should've known he would tease me the entire time.

After dinner, dessert, and much talk, we decided to call it a night after Rua fell asleep at the table and knocked over his mug of hot chocolate, spilling it all over. "I'll take these kiddies home," Crow volunteered. "I'm going to stay at Carly's for the night," Jack announced, exchanging glares with Crow. "Kiryu, why don't you walk Aki home while Bruno and I clean up?" Yusei suggested. "O-of course," I said, wanting to punch him, "If that's alright with you, Aki," I added. "Of course," she said with a smile. I almost melted.

Her house wasn't too far, but not too close either. I fingered the gentle wrapped present in one of my many huge pockets of my trench coat. _I'll give it to her right before she enters her house_ I thought to myself. We chatted a little on the way. Aki mostly talked about the things she did in school, and various things about Duel Monsters. "You should have seen me the other day, when I dueled Crow," she began telling me, "He was so mad when I beat him because Jack kept teasing him. I felt bad, so I made Rose Tentacles whip Jack to shut him up." She laughed. "So that's how Jack got that bruise," I chuckled, "He refused to tell me or Yusei, and Crow just laughed and said, "I dunno~" while Jack glared at him." "Yep, that was me!" Aki said proudly. My heart fluttered. I loved her sense of humor.

We arrived at her huge house. "Well, this is it," Aki said, "Thanks for walking me home! Though you know I'm fully capable of taking care of myself." She winked, and turned to walk away. "Wait, Aki!" I said quickly. "Hm?" She turned around. My heart beat hard as I pulled out the gift. "T-this is for you…" I held it out and she took it. "For me? Thanks Kiryu!" She smiled and ripped apart the wrapping paper right there on the spot. "I... uh…" I couldn't think of anything to say. When she saw what the gift was, she began to laugh. "What's so funny?" I asked, my nerves making my voice crack against my will. She pulled up the many layers of sleeves on her right arm. She was wearing the exact same pair!

"Oh, Aki… I'm sorry… I didn't know…" I began to choke out, feeling like the biggest dumbass in the whole world. I should've known she would have them already! They were so her, of course she'd immediately buy them!

"You've saved me a lot of trouble!" she said, pulling her sleeves up more, revealing a long tear in the arm warmers. "I ripped them the other day, and I was really upset. I went to get new ones, but they sold out. I was planning to go out of town the day after Christmas to try to find replacements." She looked back at me and smiled. "Thank you so much!"

I was speechless. Out of all the things to happen, I would have never guessed that this would be the outcome. "I have a gift for you too," she suddenly said, still smiling, "I… forgot to wrap it though… so close your eyes and hold out your hands!" "Really? Thanks…" I said, my nerves still getting the better of me. I did as I was told. I closed my eyes and held out my hands and waited. "You're not peeking, are you?" she asked teasingly. "No," I laughed. Then suddenly, I felt her take my hands, and I felt her lips against mine. Time seemed to stop. We stood there, hand in hand, mouth to mouth. Then she broke away. I opened my eyes and stared at her. She was smiling. "Merry Christmas Kiryu!" she said. And then she turned and skipped to her house, giggling.

I felt dazed. Had that really just happened? Had Aki really just... _kissed_ me?! I absentmindedly looked up in a window of her house. To my surprise, Aki's dad was glaring down at me. I smiled and waved to him, then turned and ran, laughing. I felt free and happy. I hadn't been this happy in so long, I couldn't even remember. It was almost foreign to me. I was unable to stop laughing and smiling. People watching me must have thought I was crazy. And I knew I _was_ crazy.

Crazy in love.


End file.
